Hallger
Hallger is a frozen world in the Pujaya Nita trinary star system in Hex #0611. Since the Scream, and perhaps even before if the legends are to be believed, this once budding ecumenopolis in the snow has been wrecked by successive apocalyptic events. Untold hundreds of billions died in the chaos of the Scream, but even now an estimated ten billion people are believed to still live in the underground vaults and in the ruins of the three continent-sized pre-Scream megacities. Recently, the planetary government has come under the unofficial control of the Society for Ethical Reform through Aid, Protection, and Humanitarianism. Etymology Though records are sparse, indications of pre-Scream relics suggest that the original imperial name of the planet was Halaregerit, believed to be a reference to the liquid oxygen oceans. Over time, as the planet received a massive population, people began to shorten the name in casual conversation, a practice that eventually bled into official communications as well. In this way, the pronunciation had shortened to Halgerit around the time of the Scream, after which the process continued to arrive at the current name of Hallger. However, as Hallger lacks a unified language, there are many regional variations: Halger, Halg, Halgert, Hag, Alger, Gerit, are all in use. The name Hallger became the official modern name due to it being the pronunciation and spelling of those communities that had the most intense contact with the rest of the Empire following the Velan reconstitution of the sector map. As it stands, SERAPH has continued use of the Hallger variant of the name in off-world communication due to its already established convenience. Official imperial records sometimes use Halaregerit when the writers wish to emphasize Hallger’s claim (spurious or not) to pre-Scream imperial prominence. The names of the three ruined megacities have undergone similar contractions. Magnificanti became Magcanti and is now generally called Maganti in the local dialect. Glorificanti became Glorcanti and is now called Gloranti. Amplificanti became Ampcanti and is now Amanti. For official and off-world business, the original long name and current shortened names are used interchangeably depending on what the speaker considers apt. History Pre-History In its geological pre-history, Hallger was a temperate world orbiting the Pujaya star in the binary Pujaya-Nita system. Life evolved on said world, and thrived. Extensive fossil fuel deposits deep beneath the surface are evidence for this primordial flourishing. Several hundred million years ago the Pujaya-Nita binary star system became a trinary system when a passing red dwarf star, Sala, was captured. The event disrupted orbits across the system, and sent Hallger into a new orbit around the dimmer Nita star. In its new orbit, Hallger temperatures dropped to near absolute zero. Halger’s original oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere condensed into massive oceans, with carbon-dioxide solidifying into dry ice that covered much of the planet surface. All multicellular organisms that had evolved on Hallger in temperate climates died out, but a small number of single-celled organisms managed to adapt, evolve, and survive. Switching out liquid water for liquid nitrogen, life developed a new carbon-liquid nitrogen biology that could thrive in the new frozen climate. It remains a topic of debate whether any alien civilizations developed on Hallger during this period. No conclusive evidence has been uncovered for either hypothesis. The earliest surviving records date to the Golden Age of Humanity, and they show native Hallger life as consisting of nothing but single-celled life with a few species of primitive moss and molds. The Golden Age Separated from the rest of the sector for a very long time, not being reconnected by Velan explorers until over a century after the Scream, records of Hallger’s pre-scream history are almost entirely corrupted, and most beliefs about Hallger’s history are simple conjectures based upon spotty or incomplete data. The narrative considered to be the most supported by the available evidence, goes as follows: After the initial colonization of the sector, Hallger was found to have deposits of ore and precious metals in unusual abundance for a planet of its size. Though most of these were found many miles deep beneath the frozen surface, the cold temperatures made them much easier to reach than on warmer planets. Hallger became a mining world, and for a period of time that may have lasted centuries, various metals were shipped from Hallger to support construction across the sector. Eventually, likely due to its small size and locally available ore, Hallger was chosen to be turned into a new ecumenopolis, a city planet, to house the ever-growing human population of the Empire. Construction was to be centered on multiple urban cores, to be built in sequence and continually expanded outward. The first such core was named Magnificanti, and situated in the central plains of the central continent. After several years of massive construction, the first sectors were complete, and millions of imperial citizens began migrating to Hallger. To help feed the massive population, techniques were developed to isolate the genes of the native lifeforms that were responsible for their unique biology, and splice them into Earth lifeforms. After Magnificanti had reached sufficient size, construction was expanded to include a second core, named Glorificanti, located to the south, across the mountains and on the coast. Eventually, as Magnificanti and Glorificanti continued to grow in size, construction was again expanded to a third core, Amplificanti, a much greater distance from the previous two. Fragmented records suggest that a fourth core, Titanificanti, had begun construction as a floating city somewhere on Hallger’s ocean.. Between them the three colossal cities, Magnificanti, Glorificanti, and Amplificanti, housed hundreds of billions of human inhabitants behind protective pretech materials and energy shielding, with more expansion and construction underway and more immigrants arriving right up till the fated hour of the Scream. The Scream With a massive population that was reliant on advanced technology to make the planet even mildly habitable, the massive failure of said technology had apocalyptic consequences on a scale that dwarfed that of most other worlds. Countless froze to death, just as many died from starvation and infighting while huddled around the few pieces of functional shielding. Innumerate millions saw themselves fleeing underground, into the warmer climate of the deep mines that had been used to harvest the ore needed to build the great cities above. The scream caused waves of mass deaths, over ninety percent (90%) of the pre-scream population perished as psionics torched, technology failed, and supplies ran out. Survival Even before the Scream, something had never been quite right about Hallger. Though all that survives are the oral histories of The 1,313 Dooms of Hallger, many of whose tales strain credulity, it seems likely these are not all fabrications, and the initial mining and construction that took place on Hallger was indeed plagued by setbacks and catastrophe. As a result, there had already been a considerable prepper culture on Hallger, with larger communities having worked together to construct so-called F.A.U.L.T. (Forever Assured Uncompromisable Lifesaving Technology) Safe-Spaces. Presumably some kind of local or sector-wide corporation was involved in these constructions, but no record remains of them except the F.A.U.L.T.™ logo stamped on various fortified doors and (usually long-since looted) pretech caches. Unsurprisingly, those who had been active members of the Hallgerian prepper community found themselves with a much higher survival rate than their less prepared neighbors. Those that could reach their F.A.U.L.T. Safe-Spaces fared well, at least until their pretech generators broke down. Many others found life in the metro, sewers, and other municipal utility tunnels. What remained were isolated communities huddled around barely functional surface pretech or deep within inoperable mines. Many of these early shelters failed anyways, with survivors fleeing to different shelters built up around newly uncovered F.A.U.L.T. caches of functioning or repairable pretech. Such shelters also rarely lasting much longer than their pretech remained functional. It was the discovery of minable veins of simple combustion-based fuel sources, cultivation of underground flora in the mines, and harvesting of surface life, that marked the semi-stabilization of Hallger’s population. With surviving rock borers, trains, and other machinery the people of Hallger expanded down into warmer levels of the planet’s rocky crust. Though far from stable, settlements began to survive longer than a single generation, and having to leave everything behind because of a generator failure or loss of insulation against the cold became the exception rather than the norm. Lines of communication, however, remained weak, and innumerate different local cultures formed. In the deep vaults, each settlement developed into its own independent city state with its own unique government. On the surface, those living in the ruins of the megacities divided into various turfs, lines of allegiance and community determined by which metro-line was still traversable enough for people to stay in touch. Rediscovered In 2769, Hallger was rediscovered by House Vela. With renewed contact came an impetus towards rebuilding society. However, few outside organizations were interested in investing in what by all accounts was a hopelessly lost cause. Attempts to improve life on Hallger often seemed to invite nothing but even more disaster. Cah-Binn explorers came to Hallger in the period before the Aquilan-Cah Binn conflict, and traded with the local population, offering new and inventive ways to make life on the frozen world more sustainable again. With help from these human and alien traders, the Hallgerian survivors found a way to jump-start a new technological infrastructure centered around scavenged prescream material and combustibles mined from the deep or harvested from the surface life. No longer merely ‘stable’, for the first time in a century, Hallger’s population began to grow again. Some geneticists from House Cygnus took some interest in the challenge of the planet's harsh conditions. Native life was mostly a product of pre-scream innovation, but the hubris of House Cygnus endeavored for even more improved life. Hallger served as a site for Cygnus research and a testbed for those scientists wildest creations. The noble house took residence in the satellite Research Base Bam. During the First and Second Imperial Civil Wars, some refugees of these wars struck out a living here, but many perished not long after they arrived. On the surface and in the near-surface ice caves some small communities trace their origins to these people. A.C.R.E. also found limited interest in Hallger. Although mostly used to inflate their customer numbers, A.C.R.E. provided Hallger with large quantities of L.O.A.V.E. rations and simple processed goods in exchange for valuable ores that the planet could not refine locally. With security and maintenance of underground freight lines the purview of the locals, this formed a bottleneck limiting A.C.R.E.’s reach to the planet as a whole. L.O.A.V.E.s provided an alternative food for those that could afford them and became a symbol of status. Rusiyyah Arrive In 2946 Hallger began to fall prey to the Rusiyyah, a pre-Vagrant group of pirates and raiders. Formed after shānite clans commandeered the A.C.R.E. bulk freighter The Salum (later known as The Drunken Slattern), the Rusiyyah starfarers provided the clans with an avenue for self-reliance. They repeatedly raided Hallger--and other “sector-south” worlds--for foodstuffs, equipment, and experienced personnel. Their main goal was always to send food and supplies back to Shān to bolster its infrastructure. To these discerning folk, Hallger provided ample pretech materials scavenged from the fallen cities and plenty of food from herds of surface fauna. Several times Rusiyyah nearly brought a surface species to the precipice of extinction after hunting them down for their meat. Each time the Rusiyyah visited Hallger, locals who witnessed them called them agents of the apocalypse and harbingers of doom. Communities touched by the Rusiyyah were hardest hit and often collapsed when their food stockpiles were taken, medical caches looted, or if technicians were taken to work on Shān. Among surface and near-surface tribes, “Rusiyyah” is a forbidden word or might only be cast against one’s most greedy enemies. Synthetic Laborers During the reign of the Betrayer of Humanity, House Cygnus began new research on Hallger. They turned their attention to adapting humans to survive the bitter cold. House Cygnus’ synthetic human creations, were marvels of modern engineering and some of the noble house’s crown jewels. Hallger proved a unique challenge but Cygnus successfully created a cold-immune human analogue. They were affectionately called “Nonos”, because they lacked noses; instead they drank liquid oxygen to “breathe” like local fauna. This adaption did come with the drawback that, like the local fauna, Nonos cannot survive at human habitable temperatures. In the rare case that Nonos had to enter into human habitats, they needed to wear a special type of vac-suits that worked in reverse, simulating the Hallgerian cold inside of the suit to protect the Nonos from the human habitable climate. The untapped resource of Hallger’s surface was ripe for expansion. Growing calorie rich crops on surface farms, Cygnus began efforts to stabilize the planet’s economy. The population boomed, and there was even talk of restarting the ancient pre-scream project to urbanize the whole planet’s surface. But, like every good thing that came to the planet it wouldn’t last. The War Against the Artificials levied a large toll on Hallger. Taking much of their research to Gats the local Cygnus left behind only a skeleton crew in Research Base Bam and the synthetics on the surface to maintain the infrastructure. The satellite was heavily damaged in a House Crux assault and was abandoned; it remains an orbital ruin. Under instruction from anti-Cygnus force, the local population killed off a majority of the Nonos. Due to the prevailing pessimism of local culture, many inhabitants had long since been preparing for just such a war against the synthetic servants, as they had and continue to prepare against many even less likely scenarios. Cygnus implacements on the surface are unmaintained and have gone to ruin. Massive fields of cold-immune crops, growing in rows and rows mar the landscape. Without the Nonos and their ability to walk on the surface without cumbersome and expensive equipment, no source of manpower existed to harvest it all and it has gone wild in the intervening years. The unharvested crops released corrosive compounds into the atmosphere, strengthening the corroding power of the fog and winds. Planetary Characteristics Orbiting Nita, the secondary star of the Pujaya Nita system, Hallger experiences a chaotic path through its stellar system. Many different techniques are used to measure and predict the cycles of Hallger’s orbit, but few local calculations are more than guess work. A complex and interconnected four-body-problem, only pre-tech computers capable of observing the four celestial bodies can reliably forecast the state of the system. Despite the chaotic orbit, Hallger experiences only minor temperature variations; many point to the dimness of the stars and importance of geo- and biothermal energy as stabilizing factors. Terrestrial Characteristics Hallger is a small planet, with a circumference of approximately 25,000 kilometers (16,000 mi). However, an abundance of heavy metals gives it a surface gravity of 0.8G (only mildly lower than that of Earth.) Hallger’s chemical composition is defined by a unique and mysterious absence of hydrogen and simultaneous abundance of oxygen. Hallger’s surface is dominated by expanses of dry ice, frozen carbon dioxide, and its frigid oceans are mostly made of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. The atmosphere is primarily inert helium but at ground level it contains corrosive compounds that are spread through the winds and nitrogen fogs. Regular temperatures hover around negative two-hundred degrees celsius (-200°C/73K). Liquid nitrogen, and to a lesser extent liquid oxygen, function similarly to how water does on warmer planets. Primarily present in the oceans, these liquids also condense into fog and clouds, and eventually rain down onto the dry surface forming vast rivers and lakes that lead the liquid back into the oceans to close the cycle. Native flora and fauna are freakish hybrids of alien and terrestrial genomes that can survive these improbable temperatures and conditions by way of a carbon and liquid nitrogen based biology. Surface temperatures are almost instantly fatal to human life. But even when enclosed within a fully-charged thermally regulated vac-suit, human life (and other life with similar biology) will often only last a matter of hours before the combination of extreme cold and the corrosive atmosphere compromise the suit. Most human surface transport takes place via specially built and highly insulated vehicles, with its occupants only exiting the vehicles for short amounts of time when absolutely necessary. Whenever possible, subterranean travel is preferred, though one needs to go many miles deep to reach proper human-habitable temperatures. Similarly, surface habitation requires constant heating and constant application and maintenance of proper insulation. Atmospheric Characteristics Hallger’s atmosphere is predominantly composed of Helium, a light and inert gas. At the lower levels of the atmosphere gaseous nitrogen, which may boil out of the oceans under direct exposure to the planet’s home star, may create low-lying clouds and fog. These fog clouds carry complex corrosive compounds that eat away at engineered structures. Human-made vehicles, buildings, roads, bridges, and exo-suits are rapidly compromised by the corrosive atmosphere. The application of neutralizing coatings, active anti-corrosive surfaces, or the use of highly advanced thermal energy shielding--which all require constant maintenance--can protect materials from these effects. Without such treatment, however, only the most durable of pretech material maintains its structural integrity for more than a week or two. Oceanic Characteristics Liquid on Hallger’s surface is an oxygen and nitrogen mix. With hydrogen being a rare, fires are almost always the result of the direct combustion of carbon compounds that is in direct contact with liquid oxygen. Such carbon compounds exist primarily as a result of the hybrid ecosystem, as the Halgerian flora absorbs dry ice through its roots and separates it into liquid oxygen and carbon compounds. As the atmosphere is mostly inert helium, on Hallger the requisite for fire is not ‘air’ but the presence of ‘liquid’ (as the liquid on Hallger is, in fact, liquid air.) Although few things on the planet are hot enough to cause it naturally, uncontrollable blue flames occasionally erupt across the planet’s liquid bodies, such as oceans, seas, and lakes. Visitors to the planet are advised to avoid flying over the liquid surfaces of the planet lest a starship ignite an ocean. Destructive as they may seem, these fires are also part of the natural cycle of life on Hallger. They can burn for months, but leave in their wake new dry ice soil in which Halgerian flora may grow. Flora and Fauna Natural life on Hallger is adapted for the inhospitable conditions of the near absolute zero temperatures and the corrosive atmosphere. The original development of this strange carbon and liquid-nitrogen based biology was an evolutionary adaptation to a change in Hallger’s orbit in prehistoric times. During the Golden Age, humanity hybridized species they had brought with them from earth with the native life, creating new versions of earth species but with the same carbon-liquid nitrogen biology. Post-scream, House Cygnus resumed the project and further expanded the number and population of hybridized life on the planet. As a result, almost all of Hallger’s life is, by design, edible to humans. Due to their adaption to the frozen temperatures, Hallger life, including hybrid life, also requires said temperatures. At temperatures warmer than -190°C (83K), Hallger life may experience hyperthermia. Temperatures significantly higher than that cause hyperpyrexia, i.e. severe trauma and imminent death. This means standard human life and Hallger life (the latter including cold-resistant synthetics) require mutually incompatible environments. When the two meet ‘face-to-face’, one side or both will always require some form of glass insulation or even a full exo-suit separating them. Flora Plants on the planet combine the dry ice in the soil with various rarer elements, including hydrogen and nitrogen, into carbon compounds by using the solar radiation from Nita and nearby Punjaya in a process similar to standard photosynthesis. Liquid nitrogen carries solutions of dry ice and water ice to the cells to be converted into carbon compounds and liquid oxygen. As a result, liquid nitrogen functions fairly similar to water on more temperate worlds: flora require some form of access to it, and the most abundant flora is found in places where liquid nitrogen is likewise abundant. Liquid oxygen, if not already present along with the nitrogen, subsequently becomes common in these places, as the plants excrete it as waste products. Deep underground, where temperatures are at human level, the surface flora cannot survive, as its liquid nitrogen-based sap would boil. However, various common fungi and algae brought in by human settlers grow here, surviging on a primary diet of geothermal energy and recycled water. Strange air-recycling plantlife covers the walls of many tunnels, evolved remnants of earlier attempts at a human-sustainable underground ecosystem. In more cultivated caves and tunnels, many species of moss, lichen, and certain ferns can grow under simple gas or candle lighting. Though yields are small, most underground societies have farms to grow these plants as a more reliable source of food than shipments being brought down from the surface (harvested from the surface life, or even shipped in from off-world). Fauna Hallger’s terrestrial fauna lack means to breathe the atmosphere, and in fact have no nostrils at all, a good thing since the atmosphere is made up of helium, a noble gas, along with various highly corrosive compounds. Aside from being able to survive in extreme cold, and being unable to survive outside of extreme cold, the lack of nostrils is the main defining feature marking Hallgerian life as hybrids. Instead, of breathing gaseous air, Hallger life ‘breathes’ by drinking the liquid oxygen that is abundant on the planet. Where creatures from temperate worlds would have their lungs, Halgerrian fauna instead have sacs that carry stores of liquid oxygen. In essence, they drink their fill of oxygen, then ‘hold their breath’ while moving, hunting, or eating. When the sacs run dry, the creature must drink again or else suffocate. Many fauna also excrete compounds from their skin that neutralize the corrosive substances in the atmosphere, these excretions generally either take the form of a thin layer of slime covering otherwise smooth skin, or are incorporated as a prime substance in the creature’s fur. Aquatic creatures thrive in the planet’s oceans, lakes, and rivers. Drinking in the nitrogen and oxygen mix, and consuming algae-like flora, they have no need for the cumbersome sacs of terrestrial fauna. However, they are more vulnerable to the carbon fires that can spread through the aquatic flora and fauna alike. Life in Hallger’s oceans is a constant ebb and flow of such fiery destruction followed by new life growing and repopulated the newly desolate, but newly fertile, areas. Habitation and Settlement Landships Hallger’s surface is much too cold for humans to survive even seconds without proper technology. At the same time, advanced technology is scarce, and locally-built vacsuits (using scavenged pretech materials) are expensive and unreliable. The most common way for humans to get about on the surface is in lumbering vehicles called landships. Though the exact origins vary, many of these converted starships. Where, scavenged of much of their technology, the still insulated hull has been outfitted with mechanical treads and rudimentary steam engines. These landships are reliant upon fuel from the planet’s mines or its surface peat to fuel their engines. Such fuel serves a double purpose, however, since without it the landships not only stop moving, but stop being heated, and will slowly freeze. The Hallgerian surface is littered with broken down landships full of frozen corpses. Though in more inhabited areas, it rarely takes long before some group of people decide to salvage the hull for the construction of a new landship. Hoping that they’ll end up with a better fate than the hull’s previous inhabitants. Megacities Hallger’s three great pre-Scream cities, Magnificanti, Glorificanti, and Amplificanti, were burgeoning metropolises. Hundreds of billions lived in these climate controlled spaces. The Golden Age of Humanity was a marvel of technology and Hallger’s cities utilized every piece of their advanced tech to maintain the comforts of civilization. The Scream put an end to most of that. What remains are husks of its former glory. While hundreds of millions still live in isolated pockets of habitation, huddled around barely functioning ancient generators or carefully insulated city blocks, for the most part, the cities are frozen overgrown monoliths to humanity’s past grandeur. Pre-Scream materials and generators are critical for the survival of the city-folk, but they are also one of the planet’s greatest exports. Scavengers prey upon the city scrounging up parts to sell on the sector market. Life in the city is tied to the maintenance of crumbling infrastructure supplemented by primitive combustion-based technology, and a pseudo-religious reverence of pre-Scream equipment is prevalent throughout urban communities. The artificial heat generated and insulated by some surviving pretech even allows for arctic-like temperatures in some open spaces, but these are the exception as opposed to the rule. Urban agriculture is not wide-spread enough to sustain the current population but practiced wherever possible to reduce the reliance on off-world rations, such as L.O.A.V.E.s. Not as insular as the underground societies, urban communities are home to refugees from the sector’s many conflicts. Megacity Infrastructure All-in-One Magnificanti Map.png|Magnificanti Map All-in-One Glorificanti Map.png|Glorificanti Map All-in-One Amplificanti Map.png|Amplificanti Map While each of the three cities has its own geographical idiosyncrasies, the planetary urbanization project of which they were part was extremely uniform and precise, with the vast majority of areas being essentially indistinguishable from another one of the same type, regardless of their location or which of the three cities they were constructed in. The basis of this uniformity is the hexagonal sector grid. All sectors are of similar hexagonal shape, and size, fitting inside a square of roughly 15x15 km (10x10 mi). There are five main types of sectors: * Government and utilities: These sectors held administrative centers and power plants, forming the nexi which facilitated the needs and governance of the cities. * Industrial and transportation: These sectors held manufactories, as well as the subrail lines responsible for mass transportation of people and cargo within the cities themselves. They also connected to the numerous mines deep below the surface, some of which are still accessible and inhabited. Above ground, railways, suprarails, and shuttle services were responsible for moving people and goods locally between these and other sectors. * Commercial: These sectors held both leisure and business districts, focused on providing services to the citizenry. * Residential: These sectors held the majority of residential districts. * Hub super-sectors: These sectors are a fusion of Government and utilities with Industrial and transportation sectors, as the name suggests they were the true hubs around which all sectors were built. They are the entry and exit points of the deeprail lines, which connect the different hubs as well as the different cities to each other. They also held the primary space-ports for shipping and receiving offworld cargo. As indicated above, transportation between sectors and between districts within sectors was divided between four different modes of transportation. From slowest to fastest these were: * Shuttles: Standard flight-capable vehicles, seating one or multiple passengers, which could fly above or between buildings to move people or cargo directly from point to point. Due to the sheer number of people and materials that needed to move through the city on a daily basis, the number of shuttles was highly regulated and limited, so as to prevent continual mass congestion and associated inefficiency. * Suprail: A contraction from supra-rail, the term denotes the monorails and trams that ran above ground, connecting individual sectors to each other and individual districts and buildings within sectors. These were the primary means of daily transportation for the vast majority of citizens, and virtually all the streets in these cities were and are suprail lines. * Subrail: Not to be confused with suprails, these are the underground railways that connect the Industrial and transportation sectors to each other and to the Hub super-sectors. The suprail lines, in addition to connecting sectors in general, are structured to run through and from Industrial and transportation sectors so as to connect the sup- and subrail networks as efficiently as possible. At various points, these also go down into the planet to connect to the mines deep below the surface. * Deeprail: The fastest and furthest underground part of the transportation sector, aside from maintenance shafts the deeprail lines can only be entered and exited at Hub super-sectors. As the vast majority of citizens live and work locally, and those who don’t can invariably afford private shuttles, the deeprail lines are almost exclusively used for cargo transportation. In particular, they are used to ship cargo to and from the spaceports which are also located in the Hub super-sectors. Currently, none of these lines of transportation are still operable as they were intended to be. Many tunnels have collapsed, virtually all trains and other TL4 or TL5 vehicles have long since failed or been salvaged for parts. However, many are operable. In places where the tunnel’s insulation was intact or repairable, and where a community of survivors was near enough to maintain it, new primitive TL2 combustion-based railway lines have been built to make use of the ancient tracks. Heavy, smoke-emitting, trains run through these rail-lines to connect different communities and jointly constitute a fragmented but functional city-wide transportation net. In addition to these, most communities have maps that show which nearby tunnels are still traversable by foot or by landships. This is much riskier, as most of these routes will not be maintained, and the quality of insulation will be questionable. However, it usually is still safer than trying to travel openly on the planet's surface. Small city-dwelling communities that otherwise could not afford to build or maintain a railway connection are linked by these tunnel routes. The deeprails between the three cities were constructed to be much larger than those within the cities themselves, and even now are still traversable by landships, but the route is very long and some form of danger or disaster inevitably befalls every caravan that makes the journey. Areas may flood or collapse, leaving no choice but to go back or spend days clearing a path for the landships. In addition, raiders with knowledge of various maintenance tunnels often attempt to demand toll or just straight-up ambush passing caravans. Nomads Outside of the cities humanity’s movement above ground is limited to specially built vehicles. Whether in solo landships or in massive convoys of dozens of vehicles, Hallgerian nomads traverse the icy surface of the planet often following herds of native fauna, harvesting peat-like fuels for their vehicles, and collecting surface water-ice. In some instances convoys of vehicles are linked together in train-like constructions for safety and security. Another sub-set of nomads traverse the Hallgerian oceans. Even more isolated than other communities, they rely on the relative abundance of native life for food and fuel. Though, as one might expect, in case of disaster these aquatic caravans are even more unlikely to survive than those on the surface. Legends of the lost city of Titanificanti are particularly prevalent amongst ocean-going nomads. Underground A large portion of the planet’s surviving population lives underground. Often isolated from the world above, subterranean communities have operated autonomously as independent city states with little centralized control. Each polity organized itself differently and is wary of outsiders, for doom has always followed them. At first those underground relied upon metro networks and other municipal utility lines for survival, but as the outside temperature cooled, digging further down to warmer rock was a necessity. A vast array of cave networks and mines criss-cross under the surface, in each nook and cranny lies a different group. Deep underground, four resources govern life: Fuel, Food, Water, and Air. To stay warm, fuel--often in the form of solid carbon called koal or hallgrite--is burned. More refined fuels, such as gralzine, power lamps and more efficiently heat spaces, but they are treated as a luxury good. Koal heated water vapor is used to power turbines for simple electricity and for heavy machinery. Beyond hydration and power, liquid water is also necessary for the production of food underground. Calorie dense flora similar to ferns, lichen, and moss are grown in specialized areas called green rooms with electric or gralzine lamps. In dark caves, algae, and fungi are cultivated to provide much of the protein requirements of Hallgerian underground society. All of this burning of fuel requires oxygen, and so too do the humans down there. Liquid gas, often a Nitrogen-Oxygen mix to prevent uncontrolled flames in pure oxygen environments, from surface lakes is transported down to keep the atmosphere breathable. In addition, plants are grown in any underground tunnel locations possible; any space in a tunnel that can be filled and tended this way will be, providing both air recycling and a more human living environment than bare walls. Many of these plants are remainders or evolutionary outgrowth of an early subterranean, human-sustainable plant and food ecosystem, introduced to the underground before the Scream and Hallger's tech level crash. While nowadays ancient machinery to cope with the cold and environment might break and not be able to be repaired, this biological infrastructure had greater resiliency and capacity to spread and grow. Nevertheless, too many individuals in one place will tend to overload the capacity of the ecosystem, a feature of life that has historically reinforced the Hallgerian reticence toward grouping together too much or building anything too big. Orbital Bodies Bam An orbital ruin and the husk of Research Base Bam, a former House Cygnus research base. The site was heavily destroyed in a House Crux raid during the War Against the Artificials and all records of Cygnus’ Hallgerian Synthetic project are believed to have been thoroughly scrubbed from the orbital base’s archives or were simply destroyed in the attack. Today, Bam is little more than a hunk of space debris to most. Large sections of the base were damaged in the assault and power to the station is limited. Some government agents continue to investigate into what records Cygnus may have left behind pertaining to non-Synth research. Finding the missing pieces of the House’s bioengineering project for Hallger may give way to a path for bettering the planet and its people. The otherwise quiet nature of the ruin has habitually attracted smugglers, pirates, and outlaws to hide in its shadow. Bam’s resident researchers have attempted all manner of nonviolent means to keep unauthorized personnel away from the site. Additionally, the research they are undertaking has attracted the attention of fierce anti-synthetic forces who doubt the effectiveness of the war-time data purges on the old station. Luga When SERAPH brought assets to bear on Hallger in early 3201, the refueling station orbiting the planet was revitalized. The massive shipments to Hallger in what was known internally as the RAPTURE Initiative required a logistics network that could support it. The station is named after its caretaker, Luga, whom many have deridingly called a “half-crazed hermit.” Luga has operated the facility for many years and was sort of adopted by the SERAPH personnel when they began their initiatives on the planet below. They may speak about wild conspiracy theories and fixate on mundane aspects of the station, but they have always ensured that the place is clean and is regularly stocked. The Ankhayat Coffee Company invested heavily in updating the infrastructure of the station for prospected traffic to and from the planet. With the consent of the station’s caretaker, the coffee company has developed a new blend of Cabinan coffee roasts available only on this remote station. As one of two voidbound refueling stations in the Punjaya Nita systems--with Manah 6 as the other one--Luga is well known for officials who indirectly extort those stuck in the system. A cabal of corrupt customs agents are believed to hike up fuel costs and the price of common out-of system goods. Traffic from other systems hoping to avoid pirate fleets operating out of Hild often faces heavy docking fees and unreasonable fines that can be as expensive as unannounced Shānite raiding parties. Politics For most of Hallger’s post-scream history, no single entity has governed it. The divisions and fractures between its various communities above and belowground have never been unified. Various different political constructions, monarchies, kleptocracies, repubics, even anarchic communes have been tried with various success. RAPTURE Initiative In early 3201, The Society for Ethical Reform through Aid, Protection, and Humanitarianism (SERAPH), a progressive charitable foundation, began a large scale movement of personnel and supplies to Hallger, to aid in education, infrastructure development, and reintegration of the planet into the Empire. This operation, named The RAPTURE Initiative (Restoration of Abandoned Peoples Trapped Under Recurring Extinction) was kept a secret in the charity’s nascent stage. Due to the Ankhayat Coffee Company's stake and control in the starships used to ferry over the personnel and supplies, the coffee organisation took the opportunity to make coffee export and cultivation a larger part of the operation's goals. Much of the charity’s work is conducted through advising and partnering with local governments who represent each of the thousands of independent communities. Many SERAPH associates are followers of The Repentant Faith and seek to bring the doom-stricken people of Hallger into a closer connection to God. Delivering their messages of salvation through repentance, these agents travelled all across the planet and down into the deepest depths of civilized tunnels. They provided humanitarian aid to the struggling people of Hallger and offered access to more. The charity built supply depots and secured transit terminals to better provide food, tools, education, and information to the planet. Above the planet, SERAPH revitalized the refueling station Luga and the system station Manah 6. With more reliable and supplied stations, transit to and from Hallger improved. SERAPH installed permanent offices there to control customs and more efficiently deliver aid to the planet. A vast quantity of Ankhayat ships pass through these refueling depots ensuring a fresh cup of coffee for every paying visitor. Planetary Governorship Its recurrent dooms, hostile climate, and low level of technological sophistication played a large role in Hallger's isolation from the rest of the Empire. However, another key cause was the planetary population's distrust of any variety of centralization. This resulted in a recurrent unwillingness and inability to put forward any variety of cohesive planetary government that the rest of the sector could interact with and recognize for diplomacy or trade. The occasional ambitious warlord might attempt such a claim or play, or delude the unwary group of outsiders, but such larger fiefdoms rarely lasted more than the next generation, Recognizing this problem, in mid 3201, SERAPH worked to established a government on Hallger that could consolidate information about the needs of its people, coordinate efforts on the planet, request and utilize the resources of SERAPH, and serve as a centralized, recognized mediating body to the rest of the sector. What resulted, in the end, was a body known as the Advisory Templancy of Hallger, headed by the Grand Templar and Viceregent. As an autonomous stakeholder in SERAPH, this government of Hallger serves and supports the charity, but has a considerable sway in the allocation of the charity’s resources. The installed government is dedicated to improving the lives of Hallger’s population, and negotiating and communicating the needs of Hallger to SERAPH, the noble houses, and the Emperox. The Grand Templar One of the things that most struck Cabinans about the inhabitants of Hallger was their religiosity, most often framed through the lens of catastrophe, doom, and rebirth. As members of a religion that had recently gone through a drastic upheaval and institutional death, Repentants from Cabina found strange resonances between their own experiences and those of the people of Hallger. What resulted in the end was the conviction that the care of Hallgerian souls mattered as much as care for the body, and as they set about to form a new government they wished to see both aspects respected. Respect for the souls of Hallger is demonstrated by the office of the Grand Templar. The Grand Templar is a "spiritual head of state," an individual whose purpose is seen as bearing witness to the spiritual life and lessons of Hallger's people, directing yearly edicts on these matters, and appointing Viceregents in the event of a vacancy. In recognition of Hallger's own cycles of death and rebirth, they vacate their position every 10 years to an appointed successor. Their position is considered the one most potentially responsive to the will (as far as it can be determined) of the people of Hallger, including plans in place to provide a system whereby the people of Hallger can override the Grand Templar's choice of successor --or even its current occupant -- with a vote of No Confidence. The Grand Templar takes a backseat role in practical daily governance, concerning themselves mainly with study, observation, and spiritual disciplines, only occasionally interjecting into the governance of the state. The vast majority of the responsibility to govern Hallger is off-loaded to the other key individual in Hallger's government, the Vicegerent. It is known that the current Grand Templar favors repentant interpretations of the universe and views the eventual spread of the Repentant Faith to Hallger’s billions as their mission. Their position's official commitment to prioritizing observation and learning, over proselytization, has had some minor impact in addressing concerns raised by the High Church faithful of Hallger as well as other outside parties. The official restrictions of the position have also ameliorated the concerns of Repentant faithful worried about what any eventual High Church successor in the same role might do. The Viceregent and VAL-Hallger As administrative and bureaucratic leader, the Viceregent organizes the day-to-day operation of Hallger. Directing charitable aid, maintaining order, and building a better world for the people all fall under the Vicegernet’s duties. As part of their administration, the Vicegeral Advisory League of Hallger (VALHallger) serves alongside the chief bureaucrat. The league is a council of academics, business people, charities, investors, bureaucrats, and spiritual leaders who advocate the Vicegerent to adequately serve the planet’s population. As an appointed body, VALHallger only represents the concerns of the people without democratic mechanisms. Supermajority consent of the advisory league can depose the Vicegerent from the office and one of their own is selected by the Grand Templar to run things. The deposed rejoins VALHallger to check the new leader. Upon death, or unanimous consent of the league, members of the league are replaced by the Grand Templar, who selects from among up to a dozen candidates proposed by the league. Hallgerian Response Ever distrustful of outsiders, many Hallgerians are wary of the Templancy and its semi-centralized structure as well as the obvious attachment of any Templars to the government. While many communities cautiously embrace particular forms of aid and development presented, others remain stubbornly isolationist, with increasingly troubling rifts and resentments growing between the two camps. Interactions between SERAPH personnel and Hallgerian natives are not always peaceful, either, with SERAPH's idealists, missionaries, and armed volunteers often ill-equipped for the practical realities of cross-cultural understanding and governance. Moreover, among Hallgerians, predictions abound that another calamity will strike and topple this newly formed government. Throughout the planet, rumors are spreading of SERAPH’s designs and goals for the people of Hallger. Certainty that SERAPH will destroy the ecosystem with coffee crops, or that the planet will become engulfed in the greatest holy war since the 764th recorded Doom of Hallger, remain the most popular predictions. Rumors about offering to ship parts of the population offworld have developed mixed responses. Some embrace the “so-called rapture program” as salvation from their misery, while others are convinced that any effort to offworld people is bound to invoke another doom. The Unknown Masters An unconscious force is ever present in the governance of Hallger. While the SERAPH aligned Templars and Vicegeneralcy believe they are alone in governing the icy planet, an unknown cabal operates behind the scenes. No one quite knows who they might be, if they’ve infiltrated the Government’s operations, or if they simply pull the strings of the disparate communities across the planet. What is known is that non-SERAPH personnel, assets, and infrastructure have outsized influence on the people of Hallger and most chalk it up to the dispersed nature of the population. Culture of Doom None can truly list the vast variety of faiths, political structures, rituals, and languages on and under the surface of Hallger, however, one they all share a uniting factor: Doom. The planet has since as far back as the oral and written histories can indicate, has suffered from perpetual cycles of doom and destruction. Apocalypse in its many forms is, in some ways, the fickle friend of every Hallgerian. Each resident of the planet can point to at least one catastrophic event in their past that has led them to be alive in the present. As much as it has been a burden on communities, generations, and the population as a whole, each individual may see their life as the product of every doom that didn’t end their lives. Across the planet, various cults and practices are responses to the calamities in general or to a particular doom. The 1,313 Dooms of Hallger An oral history of the planet and its people, The 1,313 Dooms of Hallger is a collection of stories, myths, and tall-tales of the multitude of catastrophes that have plagues and tormented Hallger. Although many fables within the collection are incredulous to offworlders, it is treated as a form of gospel for a large portion of locals. Recounted orally by esteemed members of the planet’s residents, individual tales have been published in written form, but the collection as a whole has never been successfully written down. Many anthropologists and artists have attempted to compile a complete account but all that did not give up are believed to have paid the price for their efforts by perishing in one of the planet’s infamous calamities. Some observers doubt that there ever were 1313 stories and that the mystique of gathering the completed work has ironically drawn writers to their own doom in pursuing it. The number 1313 is treated with respect by locals. Not necessarily a lucky number--although many may choose to interpret it that way--1313 is sometimes used as a ward against the apocalypse. Some may mark distances by 1313 steps, never stay in one place more than 1313 sleeps, not climb more than 1313 units in elevation, keep communities no larger than 1313 persons, or other such superstitions. A local colloquialism to refer to the number is “double thirteen”, as in: “Jake, you double thirteen bastard, how did you do it?” Beliefs regarding the good or bad luck of invoking the number this way also vary. Vault-Dwelling and Prepping The Pre-Scream culture, by all accounts, was plagued by dooms. Perhaps the technology of the Golden Age of Humanity protected the majority of the population from the planet’s regular upheavals, but the threat of “the big one” is likely to have sent shivers of paranoia through that ancient world. From oral histories of the Scream and its immediate aftermath, those that had prepared for what they believed as “the big one” turned to underground shelters for salvation. Archeological evidence shows that for those that could afford and had the wherewithal to plan for it, had vaults full of the conveniences of the time to survive the storm. Caches of valuable pretech materials are believed to be found buried in earthquakes and substantial numbers of vault-hunters seek them out. A large portion of Hallger’s population claim to trace their ancestry to these preppers who knew that one could never be too comfortable with the current state of things. As a result, Hallgerians value preparation in all things, both the expected and the unexpected. Some members of local societies are assigned the responsibility of preparing for all eventualities. Each time a community is affected by a deleterious event, a Prepper is tasked with ralling the community to safety. Isolation Insular to a fault, Hallgerain societies are fearful of large groups and gatherings. With larger congregations of people, many locals believe they are more susceptible to harmful events. Disease and famine are most often considered when communities grow beyond normal sizes, with more people the more likely a bad harvest or virus could decimate a population. Additionally, in the event of an earthquake, cave-in, or flooding a larger community is more cumbersome to move to safety. Only in warfare is a large population beneficial. In such cases though, networks of alliances are relied upon for security. Childhood Most communities on the planet experience high birth rates and strong communal ties to raising children. The harsh conditions inherent to life across the planet has engendered many Hallgerians to have large connected families. With doom just around the corner, many Hallgerians choose to maximise the chance that their descendants will survive the next one by procreating. Differing access to food and living space limits the number of children in a given community. However the responsibility to raise a child often falls upon the community and communal child rearing is common. It may take a variety of forms, an extended family helping out or professional care-givers for example, but the continuance of a society through the next calamity is treasured universally. That said, children are also a resource that Hallgerians would consider underutilized on other worlds. Child-labor is all too common in many industries. The narrow confines of cave networks, mines, and machinery are seen as natural places where child workers can excel. Programs from offworld charities such as AIDSERFS are positioned to provide cleaner and safer jobs to children and also to help out families and communities so that child-labor is no longer necessary. These efforts have received considerable pushback from locals as challenges to the Hallgerian way of life. Language Comprised of countless isolated societies, Hallger lacks a unified language. Many locals who interact with offworlders might know Imperial, but, for the most part, Hallger’s multitude of communities have each developed their own individual languages and dialects. When people refer to ‘Hallgerian’ as a language, they are either referring to some specific local dialect, or they’re referring to an imagined proto-language that only truly exists in linguistic reconstructions. Linguists have theorized that the pre-scream culture of the planet spoke a language with strong influence from Earth’s Romani language. Knowledge of this proto-Hallgerian and one or two major dialects will suffice the local or offworld polyglot to be able to communicate adequately in pretty much any local dialect. However, the changes caused by many centuries of linguistic shifts and minimum communication between communities have left considerable differences between local pronunciations, slang, and even grammar. Within the footprint of the pre-scream cities some regional similarities in vowel formation and accents can be found, but the vertical distance between surface and subterranean communities also can show countervailing linguistic shifts. Even the most learned linguist will generally find themselves encountering unfamiliar words or pronunciations as soon as they move beyond the most major dialects and languages. Classes Amongst the various communities and societies of Hallger, some simple facts of the hard life on the planet influence semi-universal class divisions. While the planet has lacked a solid connection to the traditional chain of being and to the nobility as a result, people hold certain reverence for those that can lead a community through struggle and provide for the whole. Nobility Seen mostly as an imposition by off-worlders, most groups on Hallger don’t independently respect the imperial tradition of the noble class. In surface and near surface regions where the doctrine of the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox is most prevalent, some nobles may rule. Very few nobles are born on Hallger, and those that do are more often than not raised in core worlds and their family’s homeworld. Hypothetically each mega-bloc of the great pre-scream cities was once the demesne of a noble family but the records are lost to the scream and barely any nobles see value in trying to leverage scavenging rights or taxes from the hardpressed people. That burden is deemed cost prohibitive to many and the imperial bank rarely, if ever, approves loans or business plans to do so. Only in recent times have nobles associated with SERAPH has concerted effort been made to reintegrate Hallger into the imperial scheme. As of mid 3201, the charity has not impressed a noble rule on the people and no indications show otherwise. Some effort has begun to trace lines of ancient landclaims, but.the nobles that have arrived on Hallger are mostly devoted to the betterment of human lives through aid and faith, with noble guidance a distant tertiary vector. Diggers Miners and engineers were, and still are, the most valuable members of subterranean communities. The ability to dig through the planet’s rock, whether by pick, explosives, or with surviving machinery, allowed underground societies to survive underground. Expansion of living areas, excavation of fuel and water, securing foraging grounds, and digging deeper are all vital to the success of a Hallgerian community. Expertise from this class is the bedrock of human flourishing. At the same time, it is a dangerous job even for the well trained. The pillars of many societies, the digger-class of miners, technicians, geologists, and engineers are given extensive rights and privileges in a community. Local geology and the structure of politics affect the standing of these diggers amongst their peers and may equate to voting powers, better food or fuel, first selection of scavenged goods, etc. Growers No humans can survive without food. Sure some Hallgerain folk heroes may recount the years of doom that they survived trapped in a cave with nothing to eat save for the minerals in the rock, but most rely upon food, either grown or from offworld. The grower-class are the closest the planet has to a traditional feudal farmer. Rather than tending to the plants directly, these growers tend more to the soil. While surface plants produce a form of soil for their growth, it is both dangerous to harvest in the cold and a poor medium to grow temperate plants in. With few native microbes underground to process and decay plant matter into nutrient rich soil, excrement is a valuable commodity in composting. Processing excrement for the subterranean farms is a dangerous occupation, if not done correctly illness can spread through food and an entire tunnel must be quarantined. Quality compost, in both its ability to provide plants the required nutrients and its comparative cleanliness, is a marker of a skilled grower. This trade is not perceived as an honorable or worthy profession by offworlders, but is necessary for life to persist reliably. Scavengers Hallger is a planet of treasures ripe for the taking. As a ecumenopolis under construction at the time of the scream, vast amounts of pretech materials and tools were present on the plant at that point. Caches and vaults of the stuff is a much sought after commodity and attracts the attention of offworld scavengers like the Rusiyyah, but it is also a valuable asset to locals. The scream, and the cyclical dooms that have plagued the planet have kept much of society in a world of coal-fired steam engines. Scavenged pretech, both in the utilization of it and it’s value as a trade-good to offworlders, is one of the few ways a community may better their situation. Most communities, especially those inhabiting the surface cities and the immediate tunnel networks below them, have dedicated teams of scavengers and treasure hunters to support them. Medicine and modern fusion cores are also sought after. Rival scavengers fighting over turf and loot are often instigators of conflict between communities. Religion and Cults Isolated from the sector and internally divided, Hallger is said to be home to as many faiths as dooms have afflicted it. Much practice of the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox exists, albeit with often-questionable relations to orthodoxy. Many common expressions of faith also come in Repentant tones or the preoccupations of specific local cults. Recent activities by Cabinan immigrants, especially those considering themselves Templars and advising the government, have sought to categorize the multitude of faiths into frameworks aligning with the Three Tenets of the religion to mixed success. The Eternal Hum Deep underground in some of the most remote parts of the planet, a belief in The Eternal Hum runs through several communities. Down there a constant, but barely perceptible noise pervades everyday life. A faint hum or vibration is felt by all that spend time there. It is uncertain where the sound comes from but some say it is the sound of the spirit of the planet. To residents in these deepest depths communion with the spirit of Hallger is perceived as a way to keep caves and mines safe from its wrath. Ceremonial chants by these believers echo the felt hum and seek resonance with it. Sounding like a swarm of flying insects, they project the eternal hum of the planet through themselves and their machinery to appease the planet and find harmony with it. For many the Eternal Hum is not simply a religious practice but a complete way of life. Matriarchs of families and societies that follow the ways of the Eternal Hum lead chants and choirs in amplification and harmonization of the subterranean vibrations. Typically these communities operate with a strong monarch and a working class of equals. Of the many societies on Hallger it most reflects the idealized noble structure, with many hypothesising that the Eternal Hum is a perversion of high church teachings by a now lost noble house. The Predictors With doom always on the horizon, having a way to predict the next one can mean the difference between life or death. Throughout the planet’s history thousands have claimed the ability to anticipate and understand the next calamity. Going by various regional names and lofty self-given titles, they are collectively known as Predictors. Despite evidence of many predictors saving lives through their claims of foresight the historical record shows that most succumb to disastrous fates of a doom that they failed to predict. Other predictors simply vanished before they could be proven wrong about their prophecy. Many chalk up both the gift and the instability of many of these predictions to untreated or undertreated MES, particularly psionic precognition. Leaders arise every few years claiming the gift of foresight and usually have strong evidence to back up their claims. Cults of personality often grow around them and they amass substantial followings. They may speak of the next great doom that will shake a community or class, and it may even come to pass but it is rare for the next claim to hold water. A simple truth of statistics will show that by sheer luck, one of the planet’s billions of superstitious people will correctly predict a sequence of bad luck, but the math rarely holds out for long. However, once in a generation a true Predictor may rise above the lucky guessers. Templars (the Order of Repentant Siblings for our Temple of Divine Mercy) In the formation of Hallger’s government, repentant individuals working for SERAPH led the charitable and faith-based efforts to reintegrate the planet into the sector. A number of these individuals continue their missions to better the lives of the planet, along with select Hallgerians who shared their values formed the Templars of Divine Mercy or simply Templars. This new order, formed ad hoc, at first, among these early individuals, now includes an increasing number of individuals working within SERAPH institutions and the Hallgerian government. Most of them are among the administrators and envoys sent forward to the disparate city-states and communities across the planet. The mandate of their order is to deliver aid, serve as financiers, prosthelytize the repentant message, and to carry out edicts from the Grand Templar. They deliver reports to VAALHallger regarding the state and situation of the political and spiritual lives of the population. The order has managed to inspire a following of willing supplicants through their acts of repentance and leading by example or simply because people have participated in their programs or accepted money from them. Ankhayat Coffee Company Programs As part of the establishment of SERAPH presence and aid on Hallger, the Ankhayat Coffee Company decided to bring their expertise in cold-acclimated coffee beans to the Frozen planet. The challenge the company has set before itself is gargantuan. The natural climate and atmosphere of Hallger is difficult for any species to thrive, let alone coffee beans. Coffea cabina is a uniquely hardy plant but the hybridization process required to adapt the beans to survive the local elements is projected to take at least several years without any surviving Cygnus or pre-scream techniques. Potentially, Cah-Binn may be able to speed the cultivation of a sustainable coffee crop, and the Ankhayats have a lot to do to make it plausible. Even if the Cabinan coffee moguls can’t create a Hallgerain coffee bean, they are quick to jump on the marketing campaign for their drink. Quantess Eridanus Ankhayat Kirsten hopes to seize the consumer base of Hallger's billions, without giving the Cabina Cups Tea Company a competing share of the local caffeine market. Some have claimed that this is a needless revitalization of the Cabinan Caffeine Wars, but the Ankhayats see it as a reward for their generous help in SERAPH logistics. In either case, more and more Hallgerians are brewing pots of Cabinan coffee on their stoves. Planet Tags Cyclical Doom The world regularly suffers some apocalyptic catastrophe that wipes out organized civilization on it. The local culture is aware of this cycle and has traditions to ensure a fragment of civilization survives into the next era, but these traditions don't always work properly, and sometimes dangerous fragments of the past emerge. Enemies: * Offwolder seeking to trigger the apocalypse early for profit * Local recklessly taking advantage or preparation stores * Demagogue claiming the cycle is merely a myth of the authorities Friends: * Harried official working to prepare * Offworlder studying the cycles * Local threatened by perils of the cycle's initial stages Complications: * The cycles really are a myth of the authorities * The cycles are controlled by alien constructs * An outside power is interfering with preparation Things: * A lost cache of ancien treasures * Tech or archives that will pinpoint the cycle's timing * Keycodes to bypass an ancient vault's security Places: * Lethally-defended vault of forgotten secrets * Starport crowded with panicked refugees * Town existing in the shadow of some monstrous monument to a former upheaval Secret Masters The world is actually run by a hidden cabal, acting through their catspaws in the visible government. For one reason or another, this group finds it imperative that they not be identified by outsiders, and in some cases even the planet's own government may not realize that they're actually being manipulated by hidden masters. Enemies: * An agent of the cabal * Government official who wants no questions asked * Willfully blinded local Friends: * Paranoid conspiracy theorist * Machiavellian gamesman within the cabal * Interstellar investigator Complications: * The secret masters have a benign reason for wanting secrecy * The cabal fights openly amongst itself * The cabal is recruiting new members Things: * A dossier of secrets on a government official * A briefcase of unmarked credit notes * The identity of a cabal member Places: * Smoke-filled room * Shadowy alleyway * Secret underground bunker Orbital Ruin Bam '''Occupation: '''Government researchers '''Situation: '''Fighting outside interlopers Refueling Station Luga '''Occupation: '''Half-crazed hermit caretaker '''Situation: '''Has corrupt customs agents Research Base Nereus 3 '''Occupation: '''Scientists from a major local corp '''Situation: '''Selling black-market tech Category:Planets Category:Pujaya Nita